State of Pennsylvania Archives: on Energy & Oil

Tom Smith:
Fossil fuels are key to reasonable energy prices

A reasonably priced source of energy is the cornerstone to a strong economy, says Smith, who backs an "all of the above" approach, "and we have the reserves in this country, and this state, too, to be energy self-sufficient. "A big key to that is
fossil fuels, but our president, he's declared war on fossil fuels, and we can't do that. We have to have them for jobs, and that's what most voters in Pennsylvania feel, too, that we need these jobs."

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer on 2012 PA Senate debate
Sep 23, 2012

Tom Smith:
Former coal company executive; ease up on coal mining

Smith, from coal country northeast of Pittsburgh in Armstrong County, called for increased energy production in Pennsylvania, where he said 40 percent of electrical power was generated from coal. A former coal company executive, he decried what he said
was excessive regulation of mining by the Environmental Protection Agency. "Things will get worse if the president is reelected," he said. "The EPA will run even more out of control. And Bob Casey--Senator Zero--will do what he always has done: nothing."

Toomey is skeptical of proposals to expand federal oversight of drilling in the Marcellus Shale fields. He opposes open-ended moratoriums on new ocean drilling, arguing that the nation needs the oil from deep water wells.

Sestak counters that
Toomey's aversion to government regulation poses short- and long-term threats to the environment and the economy. Sestak has endorsed legislation that would bring Marcellus Shale drilling under the oversight of the Safe Drinking Water Act. He has echoed
President Barack Obama's call for a strict moratorium on offshore drilling. Before the Deepwater Horizon spill, he expressed reservations about the administration's decision to expand the areas available for offshore drilling.

Those issues have provided ammunition for persistent sniping: "Toomey sides with Big Oil in the wake of BP disaster," Sestak charged in a press statements. "On energy, Sestak to the left of many Democrats," a Toomey statement contended.

Toomey is a sharp critic of the cap-and-trade bill supported by his opponent, contending that it would have disastrous consequences for Pennsylvania businesses. Sestak championed the House version of cap-and-trade legislation designed to use market force
to increase the costs of carbon emissions.

Toomey claims Sestak's voting record is more liberal than the views of his state on energy as on other issues. On cap and trade, for example, Toomey notes that four of Sestak's colleagues in the House
Democratic delegation voted against the bill.

Defending his vote in favor of cap-and-trade, Sestak counters that it would actually increase the number of jobs in the state in the longer term. Sestak invokes a a 2009 estimate that the bill would add
more than 70,000 jobs in Pennsylvania. Sestak maintains that the carbon curbs would help protect the state's $4.7 billion agriculture industry. He concedes its emissions controls could lead to residential electricity price increases in the short term.

Joe Sestak:
Global warming is principally man-made; regulate CO2

The candidates differ on the core issue of global warming, and whether climate legislation would do anything to alleviate it.

Toomey acknowledges that global warming exists but he is an agnostic on the crucial question of whether it is a product of
human activity. "There's no question that the Earth's surface temperature has increased," he said in a statement. "There is much debate in the scientific community as to the precise sources of global warming."

Sestak said global warming is principally
man-made, citing a series of scientific findings on the matter. "I know Congressman Toomey is quite extreme, quite radical, but the vast majority of the mainstream says yes, it is man-made," he said.

In keeping with those positions, the opponents split
this week on a closely watched Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, that would have stripped the EPA of the ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Sestak's campaign said he would have opposed the measure. Toomey supported the bill.

Pat Toomey:
We need oil from deep water wells despite the Gulf spill

In keeping with his general hostility toward big government, Toomey is skeptical of proposals to expand federal oversight of drilling in the Marcellus Shale fields. He opposes open-ended moratoriums on new ocean drilling, arguing that the nation needs
the oil from deep water wells and that the Gulf spill, however disastrous and worthy of investigation, is an exception to a track record of generally safe operations by the industry.

Sestak has endorsed legislation that would bring Marcellus
Shale drilling under the oversight of the Safe Drinking Water Act. He has echoed Pres. Obama's call for a strict moratorium on offshore drilling.

Those issues have provided ammunition for persistent sniping: "Toomey sides with Big
Oil in the wake of BP disaster," Sestak charged in a press statements. "On energy, Sestak to the left of many Democrats," a Toomey statement contended.

Pat Toomey:
Increase domestic supply instead of cap-and-trade

Toomey is a sharp critic of the cap-and-trade bill supported by his opponent, contending that it would have disastrous consequences for Pennsylvania businesses. Sestak championed the House version of cap-and-trade legislation designed to use market force
to increase the costs of carbon emissions.

Toomey claims Sestak's voting record is more liberal than the views of his state on energy as on other issues. On cap and trade, for example, Toomey notes that four of Sestak's colleagues in the House
Democratic delegation voted against the bill. All of those Democratic "no" votes came from districts carried by Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential race.

In Congress and later as president of the Club for Growth,
Toomey argued that a major solution to the nation's energy problems was in increasing the supply of domestically produced oil, whether from the ocean floor or from such currently protected areas as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Pat Toomey:
Global warming exists, but not necessarily due to humans

Unlike some conservative figures, Toomey acknowledges that global warming exists but he is an agnostic on the crucial question of whether it is a product of human activity. "There's no question that the Earth's surface temperature has increased," he said
in a statement. "There is much debate in the scientific community as to the precise sources of global warming. There is no doubt that the proposed cap-and-trade 'solution' would do nothing to stop global warming but would be devastating to jobs and the
economy in Pennsylvania."

Sestak said global warming is principally man-made, citing a series of scientific findings on the matter.

The opponents split this week on a closely watched Senate bill that would have stripped the EPA of the ability to
regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

Sestak's campaign said he would have opposed the measure. Toomey supported the bill, calling the EPA's regulatory proposals a back-door effort to institute a cap-and-trade system, which is stalled in the Senate.

Q: We’ve heard from politicians for a long time we’re going to end dependence on foreign oil. I just have a quote: “The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now.” That was Jimmy Carter in 1979.
And it’s gotten a whole lot worse since then.

A: Well, you’re right. And that’s why people are cynical, because decade after decade, we talk about energy policy or we talk about health care policy, and through Democratic and
Republican administrations, nothing gets done. [I agree with Sen. Clinton on] investigating potential price gouging & a windfall profits tax. I think that long term, we’re going to have to raise fuel efficiency standards on cars, because the only way
that we’re going to be able to reduce gas prices is if we reduce demand. You’ve still got a billion people in China & India who want cars. So we have to get serious about increasing our fuel efficiency standards and investing in new technologies.

Q: What are you going to do about gas prices? $4 a gallon is killing truckers.

A: #1, we are going to investigate these gas prices. The federal government has tools that this administration will not use, in the Federal Trade Commission, because
I believe there is market manipulation going on, particularly among energy traders. We’ve seen this movie before, in Enron, and we’ve got to get to the bottom to make sure we’re not being taken advantage of. #2, I would quit putting oil into the Strategi
Petroleum Reserve and I would release some to help drive the price down globally. And #3, if there is any kind of gas tax moratorium, as some people are now proposing--

Q: Like John McCain.

A:--like John McCain, and some Democrats, frankly. What
I would like to see us do is, if we have $4 gas, then we should have a windfall profits tax on these outrageous oil company profits, and put that money back into the highway trust fund, so that we don’t lose out on repair & construction & rebuilding.